Help (EdmundxReader) (One-Shot)
by NarnianNeverlander
Summary: Everybody Needs help with something every once in a while. [Based on Imagines from fandomaniacxx on tumblr]
Help
[Edmund PevensiexF!Reader] [One-Shot]

 **A/N:** Horizontal Line means Time Skip

Edmund sighed and rested his head in his hands. This was getting ridiculous.

"What are you doing?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin and looked back over his shoulder, coming face to face with his grinning little sister.

"Nothing. Reading." he answered, gesturing at the closed book in front of him.

"Without opening the book...?" she asked skeptically.

"Well, I was going to start reading."

"After you're done ogling your beloved, you mean?" she said in a teasing tone.

His cheeks immediately went red.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Lucy turned his head back around and pointed at a figure in the gardens.

"Her."

Down below, sitting in the lush green grass, was a young teenage girl with shining (h/c) (h/l) locks wearing a (f/c) dress. Her (s/c) hands were carefully working on the flowers in front of her, her bright (e/c) eyes intently focused on her task.

"(y/n)? What about her?"

"Soooooo? Have you talked to her yet?"

"I've talked to her plenty of times."

She rolled her eyes at her brother's childish behavior.

"I mean, have you asked her out yet?"

He wanted to protest, he really did. But seeing as by now, basically the whole castle knew that he'd fallen for the young princess, there really wasn't a point to it anymore.

"No." he murmured dejectedly.

"Why not?"

"I... I wouldn't know how to go about it..."

"I can help!"

"Oh, you mean like the last time you 'helped' without telling me about it?"

"Well, I did try..."

"And it ended with me being soaked to the bone and her almost spraining her ankle." he recalled bitterly.

"Alright, yeah, that was my mistake. But I'll manage something!"

"No, you won't be doing anything. Except if you can tell me how I can talk to her without tripping over my words - or my own feet."

"I actually got an idea!" she shouted happily.

"Taking love advice from my little sister - yup, I've hit rockbottom." he sighed and rested his head on the table. "Let's hear it."

"Normally you're pretty good with words, but around her... Well, I've seen you try..."

"Jeez, thanks, real help."

"What I mean is, if you can't rely on that, resort to your other strengths."

He lifted his head off the table and looked at her.

"What, for example? Not like sword fighting is going to help me in this case."

She tapped her finger on the book in front of him and smirked.

"You're smart. Figure it out."

* * *

And he did figure it out.

(y/n) loved to read. And that's something they had in common.

So the next day, he walked into the library and found her sitting at one of the tables, her nose buried in a book. He took a deep breath, grabbed a random book from a shelf and walked over to her.

"Good morning (y/n)." he greeted.

She looked up at him and smiled.

"Good morning Edmund."

"Would you mind some company?"

"Not at all." she answered and gestured for him to take a seat.

He smiled gratefully and sat down across from her.

"So, what are you reading?" she asked curiously.

"Uhm..." he quickly looked down at the book in his hands and mentally face palmed.

" _The Art of Embroidery for Beginners_..." he read aloud.

She tried to stifle a laugh and quickly coughed to hide it.

"That's very considerate of you, you know."

"It is?"

"Of course. Traditionally, only girls learn about those things, so a boy, a king nonetheless, showing interest in it is quite nice for a change."

"Y-Yes! Of course! I mean... So what are you reading anyways?" he stuttered with a blush.

"Oh, uh... A book about my home country. You actually have a few books about it here." she said with a sad smile.

"You... You must miss it a lot...?"

"I do..." she answered and closed the book with a sigh.

In one swift move, requiring courage he didn't know where he got it from, he reached across the table and placed his hand on top of hers.

"I'm sure the war will be over soon and then you can go home." he reassured her.

"I hope so... Oh my god, I'm sorry, I'm being horribly ungrateful. You've taken me in when I needed shelter and you've all been so kind to me and here I am making it seem like all I want to do is leave and-"

"Hey, hey, (y/n) it's ok! You're homesick, that's nothing to be ashamed about, I know how that feels."

She furrowed her brows at him.

"But... You are home, aren't you?"

"Well, I-"

"How are you two love birds doing this fine morning?"

Edmund immediately pulled his hand back and blushed, turning to glare at his brother, not noticing the color spreading across (y/n)'s cheeks as well.

"What do you want Peter?"

"What? I'm not allowed to spend some time with my brother and his lovely girlfriend?"

"Don't you have some high-kingly duties to attend to? Or someone else to annoy at least?"

"Nope, free all day."

"Wonderful..." Edmund growled and let himself fall back into his seat.

With a big smile, Peter sat down next to (y/n).

"(y/n) is that a book about your country?"

"Matter of factly, yes."

"Say, does it have anything on wedding traditions?"

Edmund shot up from his seat, stalked around the table and grabbed his brothers arm, dragging him towards the exit.

"I'm terribly sorry, (y/n), but I just remembered that we have a council meeting starting soon, so we'll have to leave - _now_."

As soon as the doors closed behind them, a slap was heard, followed by a loud "OW!" that definitely belonged to Peter and (y/n) couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

Alright, so that hadn't gone so well. But he would give it another shot, hoping that none of his siblings would 'happen' to walk by again.

(y/n) always spent a lot of time in the gardens. He knew that the royal family of her country possessed some sort of nature magic, yet he wasn't quite sure what it actually was. But he intended to find out.

She was kneeling on the pavement in front of one of the many colorful flowerbeds, wearing dirty pants and an old shirt. Nonetheless, with her hair swaying gently in the breeze and her eyes shining with happiness, she easily managed to make Edmund's heart skip a beat.

"Hey, (y/n)!" he called from some distance and waved at her.

She lifted her head and waved back at him happily. He started to walk towards her, but managed to miss a loose cobblestone and of course tripped over it, sending him to the ground - almost, anyways. Before he could hit the cement, something wrapped around his waist and put him back onto his feet. He looked to his right and his eyes widened. What had caught him were the branches of the old oak tree that now retreated back to their original positions like nothing had happened. In the meantime, (y/n) had jogged over to him and has placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, j-just... What was that...?"

"Oh, well... I did that." she admitted with a blush.

"I figured that, but... how?"

"I guess you could say it runs in the family." she laughed.

"So that's your magic." he said in astonishment.

"Basically, yes."

"Would you show me more?"

"You want to see?" she asked in surprise.

"Sure!" he answered beaming with curiosity.

She smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him over to the flowers she'd been working on and gestured for him to sit down beside her. She took a few seeds out of a bag and carefully buried them in the earth. She gave one little wave with her hand and in a matter of seconds a full grown sunflower towered over them.

"Wow..." Edmund whispered.

She laughed at his flabbergasted face.

"Yeah well... The original rulers of my home were dryads, so... But it gets boring at some point. I actually prefer doing it the old fashioned way, with care and a lot of water and sunlight."

"Would you mind if I helped?"

She raised her brows at him.

"You want to help me with gardening?"

"I don't exactly have a green thumb, so learning a few basic things from the descendant of a dryad might help."

"If you insist. Alright, your highness, get ready to get your hands dirty." she grinned.

"You're on." he said and smirked back at her.

"What are you two doing?"

Edmund hung his head in defeat. Fantastic. Another caring family member that wanted to 'help'.

"Hello Susan. Out for a walk on this wonderful afternoon?" (y/n) asked with a warm smile.

"Yes. But do say Edmund, I don't recall you having an interest in beautiful flowers? Except for this one, of course." she said and pointed at (y/n), who had her face cast downwards at the flowerbeds.

"And I don't recall you ever taking a stroll before." Edmund snapped back.

"Whatever your reasons may be" she started, glancing at (y/n) again, "I do am glad you're starting to get in touch with your feminine side."

He deadpanned.

"What?"

"Well... There was the thing with the embroidery book..." the (h/c) haired princess remarked, her (e/c) eyes sparkling with mischief.

Edmund send her a glare before turning his attention to his laughing sister.

"My, my Ed, I'd say that even tops the braids."

(y/n) snorted.

"Braids?"

"Oh yes. When we were younger and Lucy would get upset or sad, he'd always let her braid his hair to cheer her up."

By now, Edmund had his bright red face buried in his hands and just wanted to disappear, especially when (y/n) started to laugh.

"Really? That is so cute. You're an amazing brother, Ed, you know that?"

He peeked through the gaps in his fingers and looked at her.

"You mean that?"

"Of course. And on top of that..."

Before he could blink she was sitting right in front of him, had grabbed a strand of his hair and was braiding it. After a while, she pulled back with a smile.

"There, I knew it. It looks adorable." she giggled.

Edmund's cheeks exploded in color yet again and he meant to glare at his sister, but she'd vanished without a trace.

"So, now that your hair's taken care of, how about we get back to the flowers?"

"S-Sure..."

* * *

Another week, another bunch of failures. All his attempts at actually telling (y/n) he liked her had gone utterly wrong and he was more than sick of what his siblings considered help. So this evening, right after dinner, he'd asked her to take a stroll with him. Part of him had hoped she'd refused, but mostly he was glad. No distractions, no backing out.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" she questioned and turned to look at him.

"Well... You see..." he hesitated.

Now or never.

"The thing is... I like you, a lot. And if you'd let me, I'd like to court you."

The silence that followed seemed to stretch on forever.

"(y-y/n)...?" he asked carefully.

She hadn't looked at him once since he'd spoken.

"Edmund... I'm sorry, but... My answer is... No."

She ran back into the castle without looking back.

* * *

Edmund hugged his knees tighter to his chest and inhaled the cool night air, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. Man, heartbreak sucked. He'd been sitting here, under the same oak tree she'd used to save him from his fall, and had been trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong. They'd always seemed to get along well, very well actually, so he just didn't get it. Did she only see him as a friend? But if so, why hadn't she said so? Why hadn't she said anything? The uncertainty was driving him insane.

Soft footfalls alerted him to someone coming his way and he raised his head to come face to face with the very last person he wanted to see right now.

"There you are, I've been looking all over for you." she said.

"What for?" he barked.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Listen, about earlier... You might've gotten the wrong idea. My answer had nothing to do with you, it's about me."

"Yeah right..." he snorted while getting up and dusting off his pants.

"It's the truth!"

"Listen, if you don't like me as more than a friend, than just say so, but don't give me one of the most overused-"

"I said no because I'm leaving!" she shouted exasperatedly.

"Yes, I know, when the war is over, you'll go home-"

"No! I'm leaving... soon. Really soon..."

He furrowed his brows in confusion.

"My parents didn't tell you the reason for the war... Did they?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"What does that have to do with-"

"The first rulers of my country were dryads, that's the truth. But over the years, other races came into the mix and the dryads magic was lost. I'm the first royal to be born with magical abilities in centuries! _That's_ why my home was attacked. It's because of _me_. It's all because of me! It's all my fault!" she'd started to scream somewhere through her rant and tears were falling freely down her cheeks, her body being wrecked with sobs.

"They'll come after me, I know they will. And if I stay here for too long... That'll put Narnia at risk! All those people I've met here, my friends and... and you... I'm not worth it! I'm-"

Her words died in her throat when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. Edmund pulled her into his chest and and started combing his hand trough her hair in an attempt to soothe her. After some time, her sobs quieted down to silent whimpers.

"Alright, I want you to listen up right now. Your parents sent you here so we could protect you and we agreed to that. So no matter what happens, we'll do just that."

"It's just... I feel so helpless..."

"So? That happens to everybody. The important thing is that you take help when it's offered to you and don't run away."

He placed a hand on her cheek and made her look at him.

"And another thing: I never want to hear you say again that you're not worth the things people do for you. Got it?"

She sniffed and gave him a smile.

"Got it."

"So, tell me - do you want to change your answer from earlier?" he asked with a confident smirk.

She slapped his chest lightly and laughed.

"If you so desperately want me to stay I don't have much of a choice, do I?"


End file.
